Adjustable and removable roller assembly



Jan, 13, 1-97'0 v. L. HoLETs EVAL 3,488,870

ADJUSTABLE AND REMOVABLE ROLLER ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 27, 196s United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 37--129 8 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A roller mounting in an ejector of an earthmover permitting radial adjustment of the roller and through a releasably secured eccentric. The roller-shaft carries an eccentric which upon rotation adjusts the position of the roller and the eccentric is axially removable from the shaft so that the roller shaft may pass through an elongated slot in its support. The eccentric is held against rotation by frictional engagement with the support. An elongated slot divides the shaft support into leg portions which when drawn together cause radial gripping action between a cylindrical surface of the support and the cylindrical portion of the eccentric.

This invention relates to a roller assembly for an ejector wherein the roller shaft is mounted in an eccentric which on rotation adjusts the roller radially.

It has been common practice in earth movers to provide rollers for guiding the ejector as it moves in a reciprocable fashion fore and aft in the scraper bowl. In the manufacture of large scraper bowls, it is diiicult to hold close tolerances between the structural parts because the bowl is fabricated by welding. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide some means for adjusting the rollers in relation to the mating roller surfaces on the scraper bowl and frame.

It is an object of this invention to provide an ejector roller mounting which permits a roller to be adjusted in a plane at right angles to its axis of rotation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a radially adjustable and removable roller assembly for an ejector of an earth mover.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a radially adjustable and removable roller wherein it may be removed in a direction at right angles to its axis.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent to those familiar with the art when` the following description is read with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a scraper with parts removed to show an ejector in which the present invention is incorporated.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is a reduced top view of the ejector mechanism shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the earth mover or scraper 11 includes a scraper bowl having side walls 12, 13 rigidly secured to one another as by a bottom wall 14 and rear frame 16 welded thereto. A pair of wheels 17, only one of which is shown, support the rear of the earth mover 11 in a conventional manner. A pair of parallel and transversely'spaced guide means 18, 18 are provided on the rear frame 16 for receiving the ejector guide rollers 48,

ice

48. The guide means include upper and lower tracks 19, 19 and 20, 20'. The ejector 21 is provided to push excavated material from the scraper bowl upon expansion of an ejector jack 22. The jack 22 has its rod 23 pivotally connected to the rear of the ejector push plate 24 and its cylinder 25 is pivotally connected by a trunnion 30 to an upstanding lever 26. The top of the lever 26 is pivotally connected to the frame 16 and the lower end of the lever 26 is pivotally connected to the rear end of a reciprocable link 27, the forward end of which is connected to a reciprocable bottom door, not shown. The ejector 21 includes a rear guide roller frame 31 which as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 is made up of braces 32, 32', 33, 33' and 34 which are welded together, the forward ends of braces 32, 32' and 33, 33 being welded to the rear of ejector plate 24. A pair of transversely spaced guide roller supports 36, 36 are secured as by welding to the rear of the ejector frame 31. The roller supports 36, 36' extend vertically and rearwardly at the inner side of guide l means 18, 18.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, support 36 is split by a horizontal slot 35 to present a C-shaped bracket having upper and lower legs 37, 38. An inward facing cylindrical surface 42 and a at surface 43 perpendicular to the axis 44 of the cylindrical surface 42 define a pocket 45 for receiving an eccentric 61. The axis 44 of cylindrical surface 42 coincides with the axis of a cylindrical part 46 of the slot 35 whose diameter is greater than the distance between horizontal surfaces 39, 40 of the straight part of slot 35. The slot 35 is greater in width than the diameter of the shaft 47 on which guide roller 48 is rotatably mounted by an anti-friction bearing 49. The shaft 47 includes a head 51 on one end and threads 52 on its opposite ends for receiving axial thrust transmitting means in the form of a washer 68 and nut 53. The support 36 also includes a flat face 54 on the side thereof opposite to flat surface 43 which is parallel to the latter. A shoulder part 56 is supported on the shaft 47 intermediate the inner raceway 57 of bearing 49 and the support 36. The shoulder part 56 has a thrust face 58 in complementary thrust transmitting engagement with flat face 54. The eccentric 61 has a bore 64 in close fitting radially fixed engagement with shaft 47. Key 62 on shaft 47 cooperates with a keyway 63 in eccentric 61 to permit axial shifting movement and prevent rotary movement of eccentric 61 relative to the shaft 47. The eccentric 61 includes a radially outward facing cylindrical face 66 which is complementary to and in thrust transmitting engagement with inward facing cylindrical surface 42 of support 36. The eccentric 61 also includes a thrust surface 67 on its innermost side which is complementary to and in thrust transmitting engagement with the at surface 43. Wrench receiving means in the form of a nutlike portion 69 is provided on the side of the eccentric remote from its thrust surface 67. This nut-like portion 69 permits a wrench to be applied to hold the eccentric 61 and shaft 47 in the desired position when the nut 53 is tightened to bring faces 54, 58 and surfaces 43, 67 into thrust transmitting engagement with sucient force to prevent rotation of the eccentric 61 relative to the support 36. An adjustable and releasable tension means in the form of bolt 71 is provided to draw legs 37, 38 toward one another thereby causing cylindrical surface 42 to grippingly engage cylindrical face 66 thus providing additional resistance to rotation of eccentric 61 relative to support 36. The tightening and release of the tension element is achieved by screwing nut 72 on and off the threaded end of bolt 71. The axis 73 of shaft 47 is in eccentric, parallel relation to axis 44 of eccentric 61.

The roller assembly may be removed from support 36 by removing bolt 71, removing nut 53 and washer 68 from shaft 47, then removing eccentric 61 axially from pocket 45 in a direction away from roller 48, and then sliding the shaft 47 horizontally at right angles to its axis 73 rearwardly through slot 3S. This roller mounting permits the rollpr 48 and its mounting parts to be removed from t-he support without requiring removal of ejector 21 from the scraper bowl 11 or from its operating jack 22.

The ejector 21 is also provided with a pair of side rollers 81, 81 which are mounted in supports 82, 82' extending rearwardly from push plate 24 of ejector 21. The mounting of these rollers 81, 81 is the same as that for rollers 48, 48 except a slot is not provided for removal in a direction at right angles to the roller axis inasmuch as the rollers 81, 81 can be removed downwardly after nut 83, as shown in FIG. 4, is removed.

From the foregoing description it is apparent tha't an extremely useful and novel roller mounting has been provided which permits radial adjustment of the roller relative to its support and replacement of the roller assembly without removal of the ejector from the scraper or disassembly of the ejector from its operating means The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are dened as follows: 1. In an ejector of an earthmover, a guide roller mounting comprising:

a support on said ejector including annular pocket in one side of said support, said annular pocket having a radially inward facing cylindrical surface and a at surface at the bottom thereof perpendicular to the axis of said cylindrical surface, a flat face on the other side of said support parallel to said flat surface, and an opening in said support extending between said at surface and fiat face an ejector guide roller, a shaft rotatably supporting said roller an annular shoulder part on said shaft with a thrust face complementary to and in thrust transmitting relation to said at face, an eccentric connected in radially fixed and axially shaftable relation to said shaft having a radially outward facing cylindrical face in thrust transmitting relation to said cylindrical surface of said support and a thrust surface on one o f its axially opposite sides complementary to 4and in thrust transmitting engagement with said at surface, and l releasable axial thrust transmitting means engaging said shaft and eccentric urging said flat surface into engagement with said thrust surface with sufficient force to prevent rotation of said eccentric relative to said support.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said eccentric includes wrench receiving means on its side opposite to said one side thereof.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said releasable axial thrust transmitting means includes a nut.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein said opening is an open ended slot dividing leg portions of said support and further comprising adjustable and releasable tension means interconnecting said leg portions tand operable to draw said portions toward one another causing said inward facing cylindrical surface of said support to grippingly engage said outward facing cylindrical face of said eccentric.

5. The invention of claim 4 wherein the width of said slot is greater than the diameter of said shaft and less than the diameter of said inward facing cylindrical surface.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein said eccentric is axially removable from said shaft in the direction away from said support when said releasable thrust transmitting means is disengaged from said shaft and said tension member is removed from said leg portions.

7. The invention of claim 1 wherein said eccentric is nonrotatably secured to said shaft.

8. The invention of claim 7 -wherein said eccentric includes a bore in eccentric relation to said cylindrical face and in close fitting radial engagement with said shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,229,103 1/ 1941 Le Tourneau 37-126 2,473,774 6/ 1949 Zakel 37-126 2,876,918 3/1959 Kling 214-82 2,994,976 8/1961 Hancock 37-8 XR 3,352,037 11/1967 Swanson 37--129 3,397,471 8/1968 Wohlford et al. 37-129 EDGAR S. BURR, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. XR. 

